Christopher Austin

{{Short description|British conductor}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}

File:Christopher Austin Paul Morley.jpg in rehearsal at the Royal Academy of Music.]]

Christopher Austin (born 14 November 1968) is a British conductor, and an arranger and orchestrator of film and television scores.{{Cite web |title=Christopher Austin |url=https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/5371/Christopher-Austin/ |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=wisemusicclassical.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Christopher Austin (conductor) on Hyperion Records |url=https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A3036 |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=Hyperion Records |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Christopher Austin |url=https://www.ram.ac.uk/people/christopher-austin |access-date=2022-09-02 |website=Royal Academy of Music |language=en-GB}}

Austin originally intended to become a composer. He studied at the University of Bristol with Adrian Beaumont and Raymond Warren (1987–90), and subsequently at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Robert Saxton and Simon Bainbridge.{{cite web|url=http://www.signumrecords.com/artists/brunel/index.shtml|title=The Brunel Ensemble|last=Unknown|publisher=Simun Records|access-date=17 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119013444/http://www.signumrecords.com/artists/brunel/index.shtml|archive-date=19 November 2011|url-status=dead}}

As a conductor he is most associated with contemporary music. He is the founder and artistic director of the Brunel Ensemble. He has also worked with many of the leading orchestras in the UK and Europe, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and The Royal Ballet.

His film work includes The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse.

He often collaborates with the composer Joby Talbot, with whom he co-wrote the song "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish", along with Garth Jennings, director of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Austin teaches composition, conducting and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music, in London. He was the composition tutor of Paul Morley in the BBC television documentary How to Be a Composer.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/12/classical-music-becoming-a-composer|title=Critic to composer|last=Morley|first=Paul|date=12 July 2009|work=The Guardian|access-date=17 October 2011|location=London}}